Deep Thinking: Where do people come from?
So, this was a recent conversation with Emma:
Emma: Papa, where to people come from?
Papa: Well hun, Mommies and Daddies both…
Emma: No, I _know_ that, where do their parent’s come from? and their parents and their parents…
Papa: Same way we got here.
Emma (slightly frustrated): No, Papa… I mean how did they get onto the “continents” (which is Emma’s catch-all word right now for country/earth/continent).
Papa: Oh, you mean “how did people get here in the beginning?”
Emma: Yes, that’s what I _said_.
Papa: (thinking to myself: do I explain evolution, religion, both, how…)
Luckily we were interupted, so I have time to think up a 5-year-old-understandable explanation of evolution and how I think about this in a religious sense before she asks again.
Because she WILL ask again.
Interesting how this conversation has gone over the last year as she as extrapolated each answer to the next question:
Where do babies come from?
How do they get out of Mommy’s tummies?
How do they get in Mommy’s tummies?
Why do we grow old and die?
Were grandmom and grandad born from mommies’ tummies too?
extroplate some more…
where did we come from in the beginning?
Some deep thinking there.
About The Author
_The Tree of Life_ by Ellen Jackson (Prometheus Books) is fairly good children’s book on evolution.
I got it for my kids. I’m not sure I can quote it right, but they used to… something about this tiny, tiny almost alive thing.
Reply to YondallaWow, my kids haven’t gotten to that level of questions yet. They’re aware that when the dinosaurs existed there were no people, and now that there are people there are no dinosaurs. So far that has mostly just led to wanting to have an “imagination” about a future time when everything will exist at the same time. But I guess the “Why?” and “How?” should be coming soon…
Reply to C. L. HansonYou’re in for some great times as she gets older.
Reply to ann adamsBrilliant!!! She’s the daughter of an Evolutionary Biologist after all– you must be a very proud father indeed!
Perhaps a visit to a Natural History museum might make things easier… the ape to man evolutionary series that’d be displayed in any museum would be quite intuitive and may be sufficient for the basic evolutionary party of the query. Being an atheist, I’d have no clue how you deal with the religious part.
I am very curious how you’ll tackle this, so please do keep us updated on how it goes.
Reply to A.S.Our oldest is also five and we’ve been having this conversation as well. I found some great books that help. In addition to “The Tree of Life,” mentioned above, I highly recommend “Big Bang! The Tongue Tickling Tale of a Speck that Became Spectacular” and “Born With a Bang: The Universe Tells Our Cosmic Story” These last two books, even more so than “The Tree of Life” have been a BIG hit.
Reply to SusanThanks for the suggestions Susan, I like the name of “tongue tickling tale of a speck that became spectacular”
.
I will A.S., she just got her first book (Tree of LIfe), today. Since we finished James and the Giant Peach today, I think we’ll read it and see how she reacts.
Yep Ann… some great times ahead
Reply to TreyI want to be a teacher and scientist
So, Emma now says she wants to be a scientist and at teacher who teaches science. Just like her Papa
. Her Daddy is a teacher of English, so she’ll be following the family tradition 
. We’ll see how long…
Reply to Daddy, Papa and Me